Our Wedding Invitations
Once upon a time...
in a pre-Pinterest world...
In the Fall of 2008... Two crazy kids were getting married :)
I know some girls dream of their dresses or their venue, but what I was really excited about was my invitations!! I drove myself crazy for months trying to decide on the perfect idea for an invitation. I made folders on my computer and filled them with inspiration. I wanted it to feel special. I wanted it to feel like a box of memories that were built over time. Like something you would discover in your grandmother's attic (minus the dust).
It started with the save-the-date, which was meant to feel like a vintage postcard of our venue. We got married at the Round Hill House. A Greek-revival mansion with gorgeous grounds.
I (we-ish) stained, primed and painted around 150 boxes. (I mean, this really should have been my husband's first clue. He had the chance to run then.) Crazy, yes, I know. But, I wanted the invitations to be memorable.
The invitations were wrapped in kraft paper, with a red and white label and tied in butcher's twine... and, yes, were a small fortune to mail! I handed out as many as possible in person to help save on costs. I wanted to be able to pay for the wedding too!
When you first opened up the invitation, there was a metal tag and twine that held everything together. On the very top was a vintage-looking photo strip with some photos of our seven years together.
When I was 14/15, my family lived in England. I would write letters to my friends back home using the Air Mail stationery. I created a friends and family letter to mimic these letters. I also used an old library sign-out card to serve as the "inner envelope" and wrote the individual guest's names out.
I wanted the invitaion to feel like an official certificate of sorts. I even had an embossing seal made with the wedding date to make it feel EXTRA official.
I love old paper. I had this awesome excursion ticket book that was my grandfather's when he was in the Navy. I copied the look and feel of it for the accommodations portion of the invitation. It had the hotel info, directions and a fake shuttle ticket. It must have looked authentic because I had people calling me and telling me that they didn't get enough tickets for the shuttle.
One of the most special parts of the invitation (and most time consuming) was the photo album. I created fold out accordion book that held photos from each of our parents' (and step parents') and grand parents' wedding days.
I hand colored in some detail on the cover with a gold gel pen.
The edges of the photos were all created using Provo Craft decorative edge scissors. I went thru quite a few pairs cutting out all of those images (150 invites x 8 photos x 4 sides = phew!)
The photos were held on with photo corners and on the back of each photo, I included their names and date of their wedding.
The reply card was also a vintage postcard with a custom stamp of the image I created for the front of the box.
The look and feel was carried over into the wedding website.
And then into the individual pieces for the wedding. The program was created to look like an old playbill. I photo-shopped the heads of the bridal party into old advertisements.
